The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared that its purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms.
One of UNESCO tasks is to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage, which represents the history and identity of each people and constitutes the legacy of the past to be transmitted to future generations.
The World Heritage list now includes more than a thousand sites; Italy is the country that has the most sites ever: 50 in total (as of June 2014).
A site becomes part of the World Heritage List only if the UNESCO recognises the presence of an Outstanding Universal Value (abbreviation OUV).
The vineyard landscapes of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato, thanks to their extraordinary value linked to the wine culture, which has been developed during the years, shaping a very unique landscape, have been included in the World Heritage List by the UNESCO since 22nd June 2014.
The extraordinary outstanding value of these sites is represented by a deep wine culture which is showed through the cultivated landscape created by men to produces famous wines.
The site represents in fact a unique witness of a living cultural tradition, and an exceptional example of the relationship between man and nature which have been carried on for more than two millennia. The rows of vines historically cultivated in the territory, the types of cultivation, the rich system of productive places and traditional settlements show a “living” landscape, in which each evolution takes place in the constant respect and balance of tradition and innovation. The wine-growing landscape of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato is therefore the exceptional result of a “wine tradition” that has been transmitted and evolved from antiquity to the present, constituting the centre of the socio-economic life of this territory.
It has been a long, difficult path, for a unique and historical result: it took 11 years to obtain this unique project of value. The winegrowing landscapes of Piedmont thus become the 50th Italian UNESCO Site, the second in the province of Cuneo, after the Monviso, located among the Biosphere reserves, recognised on 29th May 2013.
The plaque of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation recalls the monument as the second of the six components that make up the site: the Langhe of Barolo, the Castle of Grinzane Cavour, the Hills of Barbaresco, Nizza Monferrato and the Barbera, Canelli and the Asti Spumante and the Monferrato of the “Infernot”.
The continuous research for improvement of the production cycle has led, and still brings, to the production of wines of excellence and international quality (such as Barolo, Barbaresco, Asti Spumante and Barbera d’Asti), thanks to a rich heritage of knowledge and techniques, based on a deep knowledge of the vines grown here for centuries (Nebbiolo, Moscato Bianco, Barbera) and their ability to adapt to environmental conditions
